To mark the Guardian’s bicentenary, we are running a competition for readers. We have selected six stories that have appeared over the past 200 years. There is a link between them, but just to make it a little spicier we will not be telling you what that link is.
The first three of the six stories were reprinted in the Guardian on 7 , 14 and 21 May. The fourth is below, with the other one to follow on 4 June. On 11 June, we will publish the final piece along with the other five, alongside a form for entries. You must guess the date that each of the stories appeared. The first 10 randomly chosen readers who correctly identify the dates (or got closest to them) will receive prizes, including a ticket to a Guardian Masterclass of your choice, a ticket to a Guardian Live event of your choice, and merchandise packs of commemorative gifts to mark the 200th anniversary. All entries will need to be received by 2 July. The results and a list of winners will appear on 16 July. If more than 10 people get all six right, the winning names will be drawn from a hat (possibly metaphorical).
Here is the fourth story. File it away, make a note of your answer, and look for the next story next Friday. Good luck.
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The moving staircase
The moving staircases on the Underground, which began at Earl’s Court and then extended to Paddington and Liverpool Street and Charing Cross, are now being installed at Oxford Circus, and in a short time they will probably be in working order at Baker Street as well.
At Oxford Circus, as at the other stations, they are to replace the lifts altogether, and so far as one can see the present policy of the Underground management is to install them at all busy stations or at any rate at all those where the tube is not too deep down to make the system difficult.
It does not seem, however, to have been realised that these stairways make the use of the tubes impossible for elderly or infirm or even markedly nervous people. A lame person could not use them nor can very many women, especially those over middle age, nor is it likely they can ever learn to.
The lifts, on the other hand, were possible for all, and if the moving stairways were at all generally introduced there would, I think, be a good deal of dissatisfaction. Even for able-bodied people they reduce considerably the possibility of carrying any bulky hand luggage.
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